The Black Cat and the Raspberry
by shewhoridesonrainbows
Summary: The story behind how Chat Noir got himself grounded and the fall-out. Aged-up Marichat ficlet
1. The Beginning

Adrien was slowly kissing his way down the pale flesh of Marinette's neck and he knew he shouldn't be. He knew it was wrong that he kept visiting his classmate in the dark of the night. It was wrong that he was misusing his Miraculous to sneak through her balcony. And it was wrong that he was enjoying the breathy moans Marinette made when his hands gripped her hips and he grinded into her.

"C-chat," Marinette gasped when he bit the juncture of her neck and shoulder. He released the abused skin, kissing it better before following the line of her collarbone to the center of her throat. He paused there and looked up to meet her gaze, silently asking permission to continue his path downward. Marinette bit her lip and nodded.

With a grin he planted his hands on either side of Marinette's ribs and lifted himself up just enough that he could slide a few inches down the mattress without the leather of his suit rubbing uncomfortably against the her skin, still leaving kisses as he went. He passed up the temptation of the clothed breasts before him, the bow that decorated the middle of her bra tickled his chin then lips as his kissed a pathway towards his goal.

He slowed as he neared her bellybutton, teasing Marinette with a circle of kisses and love bites around the center of her stomach. As soon as he was below her navel he glanced back up at her face, taking in the flush of her cheeks and the way her eyes seemed to be pleading for him to continue. A mischievous glint in his eye and a sudden deep breath was all the warning he gave Marinette before he pressed his face against her again, and blew.

Her body jerked and he tried his best to keep connected to her belly, nearly succeeding until a fist was accidentally thrown into his nose. Adrien popped up real quick, tenderly feeling for any signs of a broken nose and thankfully finding only a couple drops of blood.

"Princess, that is some right hook you've got there," he commented, sitting back on his heels. Marinette had pulled herself out from under him and was trying to tug her blankets loose. She quickly tucked her legs under the covers and glared at him.

"That's what you get for blowing a raspberry into my stomach," she said as she pulled the covers further up her body. "Now out," she pointed towards the skylight above her bed, "you're grounded from my room for a week."


	2. Alya

She started her morning with a small carton next to her computer. Raspberries. A green post-it note apology told Marinette exactly who it was from. "Sorry, Purr-incess. I hope the berries are as sweet as you are," it read, followed by a doodle of a grinning cat.

"Nope, not gonna forgive him that easily," Marinette said, crumpling the note while Tikki giggled in the air over her shoulder. She looked back at the tiny sprite and gestured towards the fruit, "Have at them, Tikki. I'm not going to give him the satisfaction."

Marinette quickly dressed for school without sparing another thought to her kitty's attempt at an apology, opening her purse as she went down the trapdoor for Tikki to take her daytime hiding place. Another carton of raspberries sat on the kitchen counter, earning an eye-roll from the teenager. She detoured through the bakery to leave quick pecks on her parent's cheeks as Marinette left for school, arriving on time for once. _Must be because I kicked the cat out of my room early last night_ , she thought as she walked her first class of the day.

A pastry box on her desk and a questioning look from Alya greeted Marinette as she stepped through the doorway. She stopped to glare at the offending box, already knowing exactly what would be in the pink package, before climbing the steps to her seat.

Marinette was barely on the bench before her best friend pounced on her, needing answers. "Who's C.N. and why do they feel the need to apologize with sweets?" Alya asked as she pointed at the second green post-it note to find its way in front of Marinette that morning. The girl could only blush and smile as she opened the box, ignoring her friend until she could collect her thoughts enough to answer without giving away her secret nightly rendezvous with Chat Noir.

The blush of embarrassment that dusted her cheeks was quickly replaced with one of anger when the raspberry topped slice of cake was uncovered. The sides showed off the red filling in the middle of the dessert which Marinette could only deduce as more raspberries.

"That damn cat," she mumbled but it was just loud enough for the eager girl next to her to hear.

"Cat?" Alya started, "What's this got to do with a cat?" She jumped slightly in her seat then grabbed Marinette's shoulders, turning her to look into her face. "Is C.N. Cha-" Marinette's hand over her mouth was the only thing that stopped Alya from blurting out the rest of the superhero's name.

"Alya, shhhh," Marinette hushed as she glanced around quickly to see if anyone was paying attention. Thankfully everybody was wrapped up in their own conversations to notice. She slowly lowered her hand.

"Giiirrrll!" the excited reporter drawled out quietly then pointed to the door. "We've got five minutes before class starts, I want to know everything." She all but flew down the steps and out the door, ignoring the groan coming from Marinette.

In the emptying hallway Alya pulled Marinette away from any eavesdroppers that could be lurking around and a quick check around made sure of it.

Marinette was very worried, her thoughts running a mile a minute. _How am I going to get out of this one? Unless Alya keeps this between us, I'm never going to be able to walk down the street again. And Chat's superhero image would be ruined if it got out that he was sneaking into a girl's room at night. and OH MY GOD MY PARENTS!_

A cough from Alya brought the worried girl back to her surroundings. "Ok, before you start, let me just explain."

"No use trying to lie, I can see the evidence," Alya stated, looking at something below Marinette's face.

"Evidence?" Then Marinette remembered the spot on her neck that Chat bit the night before. She slapped a hand over the slight bruising with a chuckle. "Uhh… well," she sighed, "I guess the cat's out of the bag now." _Damn him. Damn him and his mouth and his puns._

"Since we don't have a whole lot of time we'll worry about the when and how later, but for now I just need to know what he's apologizing for and if I need to kick some superhero ass." Alya crossed her arms and Marinette had no doubt her best friend would throttle the poor boy if she thought he'd done anything to her that she didn't want.

Marinette laughed as she answered, "No no, he didn't do anything like that. He just, "she blushed and scowled at the memory. "He just got me, uh, 'hot-and-bothered' before blowing a raspberry into my stomach."

The look on Alya's face at that moment was almost worth what Chat did.

"So the cake was him saying he was sorry?"

Marinette nodded.

"He's using a _raspberry_ cake to apologize for giving you a raspberry?"

"He also left a couple cartons of raspberries in my house," Marinette added and Alya bit her lip, trying to hold back the laughter that was shaking her shoulders.

"Oh my god, you have to tell me when he does stuff like this again!" Alya doubled over laughing when she saw the indignant look on her friend's face.

"Let's just get back to class before we're late," Marinette said, turning on her heel and walking away. Alya was still laughing as she quickly followed, calming down the closer they got to the door.

She broke into another giggle fit when they walked through the door and she saw the pastry box again, making Marinette frown at the dessert She looked around for somewhere to get rid of it and her eyes landed on Adrien. Her angry expression softened slightly as she remembered how much he liked the sweets her parents made.

"Good morning, Adrien," she said and walked to her seat.

"Good morning," he greeted back as he turned to face Marinette.

"You like baked goods right?" The way his eyes seemed to light up answered her question without words.

"Sure, why?"

"Well," she said, pushing the box towards him. "I'm not very fond of raspberries right now, would you like this?"


	3. Nino

Adrien was feeling the sting of Marinette's anger at his alter-ego as he shoveled the last forkful of the cake into his mouth. He'd thought for sure that Marinette would see the humor in apologizing with raspberries. He was trying to think of something that would get the girl to see that he was sorry. Poking fun at what he'd done probably wasn't a good way to go about it.

Frowning around the fork, Adrien was so lost in thought he hadn't noticed Nino trying to get his attention. A waving hand finally brought him back to reality.

"I'm sorry, were you saying something?" he asked and Nino sighed.

"Yeah, dude. I was wondering what that cake ever did to you to make you glare at it," Nino chuckled and reclined back to rest his elbows on the step behind him. They were both sitting on one of the green staircases that lead to the second floor. He opened his mouth to say something else but a shout from a bench against the wall drew both of their attention.

"YOU GROUNDED HIM!" Alya's voice filled the air and Marinette was obviously trying quiet the laughing girl. Adrien already knew what their conversation was about so, when Nino whipped his head back to the blond with a curious expression, he had to decide whether or not he wanted his friend to know as well.

"I _have_ to know what they're talking about," Nino pleaded. "Who, in the world, could Marinette ground?"

Adrien made a decision and grabbed his book bag as he stood from the stair he was sitting on. _I'm wondering what Marinette's told Alya too_ , he thought. It didn't take long for Nino to gather his things and lead the way towards the two girls.

Alya was still laughing and Marinette was still making calming motions as the guys stood in front of their bench. Their voices hushed when the noticed the new company and they looked up at Adrien and Nino innocently.

"What are you ladies talking about?" Nino began, moving around to the side of Alya then leaning against the wall with a smile. Alya raised an eyebrow and Marinette looked panicked. Neither said a word and Adrien could only wait to see what would happen. He knew his friend could keep a secret so he wasn't worried about Chat Noir's nighttime escapades appearing on the news.

The girls looked at each other for a second before Marinette caved with a sigh. "Alright, Alya. Tell them." Permission given, Alya bounced as she turned to Nino, obviously excited to share The story with someone else.

"So get this," she started, going into her 'I've got a scoop' voice and leaning in close, "our Marinette here has been having secret, midnight, fun-times with our very own Chat Noir." Nino gasped and Adrien feigned surprise, trying his hardest not to blush at Alya's description. He could see his mark peeking from under her jacket collar, ruining his attempt at a normal complexion.

"Alya, come on," whined Marinette. "I've told you, nothing's happened beyond-"

Alya continued Marinette's sentence, quoting, "'Beyond second base', I know."

"Is Chat Noir the one you grounded?" Nino asked. Alya nodded enthusiastically, Marinette brought her knees up to hide her face, and Adrien tried not to laugh at the memory.

"She punched him in the nose too!" Alya added.

"What did he do to deserve that?" he already knew the answer but Adrien _had_ to hear Marinette's side of the story. Alya's laughing fit started up again at the question and the other girl jerked her head up, her expression annoyed now instead of embarrassed.

"The stupid cat betrayed my trust is what he did!" Marinette's feet stomped the ground under her and her hands balled into fists.

Nino looked scandalized. _Probably imagining something horrible_ , Adrien thought. Before he could ask something to clear up the misconception Alya beat him to it.

"Oh, it wasn't that bad," she paused to let out another giggle, "he just interrupted their fun by blowing a raspberry on her stomach." Nino joined Alya, both of them laughing at Marinette. Adrien tried to keep his chuckle low, it _was_ pretty funny though. "And there's more," the young reporter managed to calm down enough to get out, "he's been trying to apologize all morning."

Nino was confused now, "I haven't seen him anywhere."

"No no," Alya waved a hand and shook her head. "He's been leaving 'I'm sorry' gifts for her." Out of the corner of his eye, Adrien saw Nino turn to him.

"Dude," he nudged the blond with an elbow, "the cake you ate must've been one of them!" Adrien shifted and blushed, a bit self-conscious now that everybody was, unknowingly, judging his gift-giving skills.

"It was," Marinette sighed. "I don't like cake in the first place but it was a raspberry cake so that's worse. I'm not sure what that cat is thinking."

"What do you mean you don't like cake?" Adrien was the one confused now, he thought everybody liked stuff like that, especially girls.

"She lives over a bakery," Alya answered for her best friend. "Sweets get real boring if you're around them that much."

"Yeah, I got burnt out on cake when I was eight," Marinette confirmed, not quite as annoyed now that the topic was shifted to something other than Adrien's masked persona.

"Well, what do you like?" He knew this was kind of cheating but he needed to know how to get back on his Princess's good side. He'd do anything not to be locked out of the one warm place he can find refuge in when his own empty house gets to be too much.

"Hmmm," Marinette tapped a finger against her chin in thought. "Well, one thing I don't get a whole lot of at my house is cheese. Really good cheese."

 _Oh good lord._

* * *

 _A/N: the part at the end about cheese is based on a post i made on tumblr ( post/137651673584/you-know-if-adrien-likes-sweets-like-tikki)_


	4. The End

_A/N: Sorry for the wait, I moved and lost my talent in the boxes._

Marinette had no excuse for not going home immediately after school. Alya had to watch her horde of siblings, Nino was in trouble for playing his music too loud in the library, and Adrien left school after lunch for a photoshoot. There was nothing to keep her away from the additional apology gifts she was sure Chat had left in her room, even though he wasn't allowed in there yet.

Doesn't he have a civilian life? She thought as she shuffled down the school's steps. How lenient are his parents if he can run around Paris, buying piss-poor apology gifts on top of whatever crimes he stops? Does he even go to school? He must at some point, or he'd be bugging me more often. Marinette was already at the bakery's door by the time she finished her inner-rant. The good thing about living across the street from school: the walk is very short.

She walked to the side door and made her way upstairs. The artificially sweet scent of an air freshener was filling the atmosphere of the second floor landing when Marinette got to the open apartment door. She walked in to the sight of her mom pointing an aerosol can up the steps to her room. A small cloud of the spray was already building on the path up to her trapdoor.

Marinette smiled. "Wow, Momma, I knew I was getting behind on laundry, but I didn't think my dirty clothes stunk that bad," she pretended to choke for emphasis.

Sabine stopped spraying and whirled around. There was a moment of silence as the woman glared at her daughter in annoyance. She took a calming breath before exhaling in a whoosh. Marinette's mother was never one to yell at her child.  
"Marinette, dear, I know you're eighteen and you want your space to stay your space," Sabine paused as she stepped closer and gently laid her empty hand on Marinette's shoulder. "But you really need to do something with that cheese of yours. We could smell the Camembert all the way down here."

Confused, Marinette started to deny her mother's claims, "But, Mom, I.." She stumbled over her words for a second when realization hit. That Cat! He must've been snooping and got into my stash! She tried to think of something to say that wasn't cursing Chat Noir to the pound and back. "I… I thought I'd sealed the container this morning. Sorry, Momma, I'll get right on that." A sweet smile hid the anger boiling in her stomach. Sabine patted Marinette's cheek, then left Marinette to deal with the smell coming from her bedroom.

God, I hope he didn't destroy my room, went through Marinette's mind as she opened the wooden panel. Instead of the mess she was expecting, the teenager stepped through the trapdoor to see a very generous stack of circular Camembert boxes in front of her computer. Closer inspection revealed that these were definitely not from Marinette's cache. For one, the brand of this cheese was way more expensive than what she'd have been able to get with her allowance. The other tell was the green post-it note on the side of the stack. Marinette peeled it off.

"'A friend suggested you might like cheese better than sweets, I hope you enjoy'," she read aloud. The bottom of the paper was signed with a heart. "Hey, Tikki what do you think he means by 'a friend'? Did one of my friends tell him? He could've been eavesdropping."

Tikki flew out of the small clutch, "Well that kwamii of his loves this stuff, it was probably him." She floated closer to the desk, but stopped very quickly. "Blech! I don't see how you and Plagg can stand the smell of it."

"It's an acquired taste," Marinette said, smiling at the note. She set it down and opened one of the containers. After breathing in the aroma of good Camembert, she grinned at her tiny friend. "Should I forgive him now?"

"Well, the boy did carry smelly cheese across rooftops for you."

Marinette glanced back towards her desk with a nod.

Later that night, as she was climbing into bed, Marinette stuck a pink sticky note to the outside of her skylight.

"You can come in. But don't think that cheese will fix it the next time you screw-up."


End file.
